Will Rogers

William Penn Adair Rogers
Will Rogers
Born	November 4, 1879 Oologah, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, USA
Died	August 15, 1935 Point Barrow, Alaska, USA
Occupation	actor, comic, columnist, radio personality
Spouse(s)	Betty (1908–1935)
Children	Bill Mary Amelia James Blake

William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, and actor.

Known as Oklahoma's favorite son, Rogers was born to a prominent Indian Territory family and learned to ride horses and use a lariat so well that he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for throwing three ropes at once—one around the neck of a horse, another around the horse's rider, and a third around all four legs of the horse, a feat recorded in the classic movie, The Ropin' Fool. He ultimately traveled around the world three times, made 71 movies (50 silent films and 21 "talkies") wrote more than 4,000 nationally-syndicated newspaper columns, and became a world-famous figure.

By the mid-1930s, Rogers was beloved by the American people and was the top-paid movie star in Hollywood. He was a clear moral and political compass who helped guide the nation during difficult and confusing times and he did it through almost every communication medium available in his day.

Beginnings

Will Rogers was born on the huge Dog Iron Ranch in Indian Territory, near present-day Oologah, Oklahoma. The house in which he was born was built in 1875 and was known as the "White House on the Verdigris River." His parents, Clement Vann Rogers (1839–1911) and Mary America Schrimsher (1938–1890), were each of Cherokee heritage. Rogers quipped that his ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower but they "met the boat." Clement Rogers was a distinguished figure in Indian Territory. A Cherokee senator and judge, he served as a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, which wrote the Oklahoma Constitution. Rogers County, Oklahoma is named in honor of Clement Rogers. Mary Rogers was the daughter of a Cherokee chief. She died when Will was 11, and his father remarried less than two years after her death.

The "White House on the Verdigris River," the home where Will Rogers was born, near Oologah, Oklahoma.

Rogers was the youngest of his parents' eight children. Only three of his siblings, sisters Sallie Clementine, Maude Ethel, and May (Mary), survived into adulthood. The children attended Willow Hassel School in Neosho, Missouri, and later Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. He ended his studies after the 10th grade. He admitted he was a poor student, saying that he "studied the Fourth Reader for ten years." He was much more interested in cowboys and horses, and learned to rope and use a lariat.

After ending his brief formal studies, Rogers worked the Dog Iron Ranch for a few years. Near the end of 1901, he and a friend left home with aspirations to work as gauchos in Argentina. They made it to Argentina in May 1902, and spent five months trying to make it as ranch owners in the Argentine pampas. Unfortunately, Rogers and his partner lost all their money, and in his words, "I was ashamed to send home for more," so the two friends separated and Rogers sailed for South Africa, where he took a job breaking in horses for the British Army near the end of the Boer War.

When the war ended and the British Army no longer required his services, he began his show business career as a trick roper in Texas Jack's Wild West Circus:

He (Texas Jack) had a little Wild West aggregation that visited the camps and did a tremendous business. I did some roping and riding, and Jack, who was one of the smartest showmen I ever knew, took a great interest in me. It was he who gave me the idea for my original stage act with my pony. I learned a lot about the show business from him. He could do a bum act with a rope that an ordinary man couldn't get away with, and make the audience think it was great, so I used to study him by the hour, and from him I learned the great secret of the show business—knowing when to get off. It's the fellow who knows when to quit that the audience wants more of.

Grateful for the guidance but anxious to move on, Rogers quit the circus and went to Australia. Texas Jack gave him a reference letter for the Wirth Brothers Circus there, and Rogers continued to perform as a rider and trick roper, and worked on his pony act. He returned to the United States in 1904, and began to try his roping skills on the American vaudeville circuits.

The toast of New York

On a trip to New York City, Rogers was at Madison Square Garden when a wild steer broke out of the arena and began to climb into the viewing stands. Rogers quickly roped the steer to the delight of the crowd. The feat got front page attention from the newspapers, giving him valuable publicity and an audience eager to see more. William Hammerstein came to see his vaudeville act, and quickly signed Rogers to appear on the Victoria Roof, which was literally on a rooftop—with his pony. For the next ten years, Rogers estimated he worked for 50 weeks a year at the Roof and at the city's myriad vaudeville theaters.

In 1908, Rogers married Betty Blake, and the couple had four children: Will Rogers, Jr. (Bill), Mary Amelia (Mary), James Blake (Jim), and Fred Stone. Bill became a World War II hero, played his father in two films, and became a member of Congress. Mary became a Broadway actress. Jim was a newspaperman and rancher. Fred died of diphtheria at age two. The family lived in New York but they managed to make it home to Oklahoma during the summers. In 1911, Rogers bought a 20-acre (8.1 hectare) ranch near Claremore, Oklahoma, which he intended to use as his retirement home, for $500 per acre.

A photo of Rogers taken sometime before 1900.

In the fall of 1915, Rogers began to appear in Florenz Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic. The variety revue began at midnight in the top-floor night club of Ziegfeld's New Amsterdam Theatre, and drew many influential—and regular—customers. By this time, Rogers had refined his act to a science. His monologues on the news of the day followed a similar routine every night. He appeared on stage in his cowboy outfit, nonchalantly twirling his lasso, and said, "Well, what shall I talk about? I ain't got anything funny to say. All I know is what I read in the papers." He then made jokes about what he had read in that day's newspapers. The line "All I know is what I read in the papers" is often misquoted as Rogers' most famous punch line, but it was in fact his opening line.

His run at the New Amsterdam ran on into 1916, and Rogers' obvious popularity led to an engagement on the more-famous Ziegfeld Follies. Ziegfeld saw comedians as mere 'stage-fillers' who entertained the audience while the stage was reset for the next spectacle of beautiful girls in stunning costumes. Rogers managed to not only hold his own, but achieved star status, with both his roping and his precise satire on the daily news. An editorial in the The New York Times said that "Will Rogers in the Follies is carrying on the tradition of Aristophanes, and not unworthily." Rogers branched out into silent films too, for Samuel Goldwyn's company, Goldwyn Pictures. He made his first silent movie, Laughing Bill Hyde, filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey in 1918. Many early films were made near the major New York performing market, so Rogers could make the film, yet still rehearse and perform in the Follies. He eventually appeared in most of the Follies from 1916 to 1925.

California, here he comes

Rogers and his young family moved permanently to the West Coast in 1919, when Goldwyn Pictures moved to join the new filmmaking community converging on California.Rogers made 12 silent movies for Goldwyn, until his contract ended in 1921. He was also making the Illiterate Digest film-strip series for the Gaumont Film Company during this time.

While Rogers enjoyed film acting, his appearances in silent movies suffered from the obvious restrictions of silence—not the strongest medium for him, having gained his fame as a commentator on stage. It helped somewhat that he wrote a good many of the 'title cards' appearing in his films. In 1923, he began a one-year stint for Hal Roach and made 12 pictures. He made two other feature silents and a travelogue series in 1927, and did not return to the screen until his time in the 'talkies' began in 1929.

From 1929 to 1935, Rogers became the star of the Fox Film lot (now 20th Century Fox). Far from being a B-Movie level performer, Rogers appeared in 21 feature films alongside Lew Ayres, Billie Burke, Jane Darwell, Andy Devine, Stepin Fetchit, Janet Gaynor, Boris Karloff, Myrna Loy, Joel McCrea, Hattie McDaniel, Ray Milland, Maureen O'Sullivan, ZaSu Pitts, Dick Powell, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Mickey Rooney, and Peggy Wood. He was directed three times by John Ford.

With his voice becoming increasingly familiar to audiences, he was able to basically play himself, without normal makeup, in each film, managing to ad-lib and even work in his familiar commentaries on politics at times. The clean moral tone of his films led to an activity nearly unimaginable today: various public schools taking their classes, during the school day, to attend special showings of some of them. His most unusual role may have been in the first talking version of Mark Twain's novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. His popularity soared to new heights with films including Young As You Feel, Judge Priest, and Life Begins at 40 with Richard Cromwell, and Rochelle Hudson.

Traveling the world

Rogers began a weekly column, titled "Slipping the Lariat Over," at the end of 1922. He had already published a book of wisecracks and had begun a steady stream of humor books. Through the continuing series of columns between 1922 and 1935, as well as in his personal appearances and radio broadcasts, he won the loving admiration of the American people with his witty jibes at the issues of the day and prominent people—often politicians. He wrote from a non-partisan point of view and became a friend of presidents and a confidant of the great. Loved for his cool mind and warm heart, he was often considered the successor to such greats as Artemus Ward and Mark Twain.

From 1925 to 1928, Rogers traveled the length and breadth of the United States in a "lecture tour." (He began his lectures by pointing out that "A humorist entertains, and a lecturer annoys!") During this time he became the first civilian to fly from coast to coast with pilots flying the mail in early air mail flights. The National Press Club dubbed him "Ambassador at Large of the United States." He visited Mexico City with Charles Lindbergh as a guest of U.S. Ambassador Dwight Morrow. In subsequent years, Rogers gave numerous after-dinner speeches, became a popular convention speaker, and gave dozens of benefits for victims of floods, droughts, or earthquakes. After the Great Depression hit the United States, Rogers gave radio talks on unemployment with former President Calvin Coolidge, President Herbert Hoover, and former presidential candidate Al Smith.

From 1930 to 1935, he made radio broadcasts for the Gulf Oil Company. Since he easily rambled from one subject to another, reacting to his studio audience, he often lost track of the half-hour time limit in his earliest broadcasts, and was cut off in mid-sentence. To correct this, he brought in a wind-up alarm clock, and its on-air buzzing alerted him to begin wrapping up his comments. By 1935, his show was being announced as "Will Rogers and his famous Alarm Clock."

He made a trip to the Orient in 1931 and to Central and South America the following year. In 1934, he made a globe-circling tour and returned to play the lead in Eugene O'Neill's stage play, Ah, Wilderness! He had tentatively agreed to go on loan from Fox to MGM to star in the 1935 movie version of the play; however, his concern over a fan's reaction to the 'facts-of-life' talk between his character and its son caused him to decline the role—and that freed his schedule to allow him to fly with Wiley Post that summer. He often touted the advantages of flying.

In 1934, Rogers hosted the 7th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony, held at the Fiesta Room of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. At the same time, he also began writing a popular syndicated short item called Will Rogers Says. Literally a telegram which he composed daily to address each day's news, it often appeared on the front pages of its subscribing papers. In it, he expressed his disappointment with big government and the effect it had on the nation, particularly during the Depression era. His wit was often caustic: as he explained, There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you. Nevertheless, he identified with the Democratic Party, saying I don't belong to any organized party. I'm a Democrat, and was a vocal supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At one point, he was even asked to run for governor of Oklahoma, the party hoping to benefit from his immense popularity.

Death and legacy

An avid booster of aviation, Rogers undertook a flight around the world with a fellow Oklahoman, world-renowned aviator Wiley Post, in the summer of 1935. Post's plane, an experimental and nose-heavy hybrid of Lockheed Explorer and Orion parts, crashed south of Barrow, Alaska, on August 15, 1935, killing both men.

To comprehend the place Rogers held in the minds and hearts of the American public at the time of his death one only need to look at his accomplishments: He was its most widely read newspaper columnist, between his daily "Will Rogers Says" telegrams and his weekly column; his Sunday night half-hour radio show was the nation's most-listened-to weekly broadcast; and, he had been the nation's #2 movie box office draw in 1933 (behind Marie Dressler), #1 in 1934, an #2 at the time of his death in 1935 only to Shirley Temple.

Oklahoma honors

One of Oklahoma's two statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection, housed in the United States Capitol, is of Rogers. The work was paid for by a state appropriation and was sculpted in clay by Jo Davidson, a close friend of Rogers who he nicknamed the "headhunter" because Davidson was always looking for heads to sculpt, then cast in bronze in Brussels, Belgium. Dedicated on June 6, 1939 before a crowd of more than 2,000 people, the statue faces the floor entrance of the House of Representatives Chamber next to National Statuary Hall. The Architect of the Capitol, David Lynn, said there had never been such a large ceremony or crowd in the Capitol.

Oklahoma leaders asked Rogers to represent the state as one of their two statues in the Capitol, and Rogers agreed on the condition that his image would be placed facing the House Chamber, supposedly so he could "keep an eye on Congress." Of the statues in this part of the Capitol, the Rogers sculpture is the only one facing the Chamber entrance. According to guides at the Capitol, each President rubs the left shoe of the Rogers statue for good luck before entering the House Chamber to give the State of the Union address.

Oklahoma has named many places and buildings for Rogers. His birthplace is located two miles east of Oologah, Oklahoma. The house itself was moved about a mile (1.2 km) to its present location overlooking its original site when the Verdigris River valley was flooded to create Oologah Lake. The family tomb is at the Will Rogers Memorial in nearby Claremore, which stands on the site purchased by Rogers in 1911 for his retirement home. In 1944, Rogers' body was moved from a holding vault in California to the tomb; his wife Betty was interred beside him later that year upon her death. A casting of the Davidson sculpture that stands in National Statuary Hall, paid for by Davidson personally, resides at the museum. Both the birthplace and the museum are open to the public.

Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City was named for him, as was the Will Rogers Turnpike, also known as the section of Interstate 44 between Tulsa and Joplin, Missouri. Near Vinita, Oklahoma, a statue of Rogers stands outside the west anchor of the McDonald's that spans both lanes of the interstate.

There are 13 public schools in Oklahoma named Will Rogers, including Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. The University of Oklahoma named the large Will Rogers Cafeteria in the student union for him, as did the Boy Scouts of America with the Will Rogers Council and the Will Rogers Scout Reservation near Cleveland, Oklahoma.

California memorials

Rogers' home, stables, and polo fields are preserved today for public enjoyment as Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades. His widow, Betty, willed the property to the state of California upon her death in 1944. Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica is named for Rogers, as is the United States Navy submarine USS Will Rogers.

U.S. Route 66 is known as the Will Rogers Highway; a plaque dedicating the highway to the humorist is located opposite the western terminus of Route 66 in Santa Monica.

National tributes

A casting of "Into the Sunset," a statue of Rogers riding his horse Soapsuds, stands on the campus of Texas Tech University.

Rogers' eldest son, Bill, starred as his father in the 1948 biopic The Will Rogers Story. Rogers also came to life for modern audiences in the Tony Award-winning musical, the Will Rogers Follies, played by Keith Carradine, and he was also portrayed by James Whitmore in the one-man show Will Rogers U.S.A.

On November 4, 1948, the United States Post Office commemorated Rogers with a first day cover of a 3-cent stamp with his image —the inscription reads, "In honor of Will Rogers, Humorist, Claremore, Oklahoma." He was also later honored on the centennial of his birth, in 1979, with the issue of a United States Postal Service 15-cent stamp as part of the "Performing Arts" series.

The Will Rogers Memorial Center was built in Fort Worth, Texas in 1936. A mural of Rogers on his horse, Soapsuds, hangs in the lobby of the coliseum and a bust of Rogers sits in the rotunda of the Landmark Pioneer Tower. A life-size statue of Rogers on Soapsuds, titled Into the Sunset and sculpted by Electra Waggoner Biggs, resides on the lawn. A casting of Into the Sunset stands in the entrance to the main campus quad at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The statue is the basis of several campus traditions, including the wrapping of the entire statue in red crepe paper prior to Tech home games. The back of the horse faces in the direction of College Station, Texas, home of football rival Texas A&M. A third casting resides at the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore.

The Barrow, Alaska airport (BRW), located about 16 miles from the location of their fatal airplane crash, is known as the Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport.

Honored by Friend

Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun is Spencer Penrose's tomb, taking the form of an 80-foot observation tower on the side of Cheyenne Mountain. It overlooks the entire Colorado Springs, Colorado metropolitan area. Persuaded not to name the structure after himself, Penrose called it instead the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun, honoring his friend.

Filmography

Silent films

• Laughing Bill Hyde (1918)
• Almost A Husband (1919)
• Jubilo (1919)
• Water, Water Everywhere (1919)
• The Strange Boarder (1920)
• Jes' Call Me Jim (1920)
• Cupid The Cowpuncher (1920)
• Honest Hutch (1920)
• Guile Of Women (1920)
• Boys Will Be Boys (1921)
• An Unwilling Hero (1921)
• Doubling For Romeo (1921
• A Poor Relation (1921)
• The Illiterate Digest (1920)
• One Glorious Day (1922)
• The Headless Horseman (1922)
• The Ropin' Fool (1922
• Fruits Of Faith (1922)
• One Day in 365 (1922) (unreleased)
• Hollywood (1923)
• Hustling Hank (1923)
• Two Wagons Both Covered (1923)
• Jes' Passin' Through (1923)
• Uncensored Movies (1923)
• The Cake Eater (1924)
• The Cowboy Sheik (1924)
• Big Moments From Little Pictures (1924)
• High Brow Stuff (1924)
• Going to Congress (1924)
• Don't Park There(1924)
• Jubilo Jr. (1924) (part of the Our Gang series)
• Our Congressman (1924)
• A Truthful Liar (1924)
• Gee Whiz Genevieve (1924)
• Tip Toes (1927)
• A Texas Steer (1927)

Travelog Series

• In Dublin (1927)
• In Paris (1927)
• Hiking Through Holland (1927)
• Roaming The Emerald Isle (1927)
• Through Switzerland And Bavaria (1927)
• In London (1927)
• Hunting For Germans In Berlin (1927)
• Prowling Around France (1927)
• Winging Round Europe (1927)
• Exploring England (1927)
• Reeling Down The Rhine (1927)
• Over The Bounding Blue (1928)

Sound films

• They Had To See Paris (1929)
• Happy Days, (1929)
• So This Is London (1930)
• Lightnin' (1930)
• Young As You Feel (1930)
• Ambassador Bill (1930)
• Business And Pleasure (1930)
• A Connecticut Yankee (1931)
• Down To Earth (1932)
• Too Busy To Work (1932)
• State Fair (1933)
• Doctor Bull (1933)
• Mr. Skitch (1933)
• David Harum (1934)
• Handy Andy (1934)
• Judge Priest (1934)
• The County Chairman
• Life Begins At Forty (1935)
• Doubting Thomas (1935)
• Steamboat Round The Bend (1935)
• In Old Kentucky (1935)

Bibliography

• Rogers, Will, and Donald Day. 1949. The Autobiography of Will Rogers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co
• Rogers-isms, the Cowboy Philosopher on the Peace Conference, available for free via Project Gutenberg
• Rogers, Will. 1975. The cowboy philosopher on the Peace Conference. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press. ISBN 0914956051

• Rogers, Will. 1975. Rogers-isms: the cowboy philosopher on prohibition. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press. ISBN 091495606X

• Rogers, Will [1924] (March 2003). Illiterate Digest. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-0766143210. 

• Rogers, Will [1926] (1977). in Joseph A. Stout: Letters Of A Self-Made Diplomat To His President. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press. ISBN 0914956094. 

• Rogers, Will (December 1982). in Steven K. Gragert: More letters of a self-made diplomat. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press. ISBN 9780914956228. 

• Rogers, Will (1927). There's Not A Bathing Suit In Russia. 

• Rogers, Will [1928] (1982). "He chews to run": Will Rogers' Life magazine articles, 1928. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press. ISBN 0914956205. 

• Rogers, Will (1983). in Steven K. Gragert: Radio Broadcasts of Will Rogers. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press. ISBN 0914956248. 

• The Papers of Will Rogers

• • Rogers, Will (February 1996). in Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson: The Papers of Will Rogers: The Early Years : November 1879-April 1904. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806127453. 

• • Rogers, Will (September 2000). in Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson, eds.: Papers of Will Rogers : Wild West and Vaudeville, April 1904-September 1908, Volume Two. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806132679. 

• • Rogers, Will (2005-09-28). in Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson: The Papers of Will Rogers: From Broadway to the National Stage, September 1915 – July 1928. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806137049. 

• • Rogers, Will (2005-09-28). in Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson: The Papers of Will Rogers: From Broadway to the National Stage, September 1915 – July 1928. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806137049. 

• • Rogers, Will (2006-10-31). in Steven K. Gragert and M. Jane Johansson: The Papers of Will Rogers: The Final Years, August 1928 – August 1935. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806137681. 

Further reading

• Carey, John. 1987. Eyewitness to History. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674287509
• Ketchum, Richard M. 1973. Will Rogers, His Life and Times. New York: American Heritage Pub. Co.; distribution by McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070344116
• Rogers, Will, Bryan B. Sterling, and Frances N. Sterling. 1982. A Will Rogers Treasury: Reflections and Observations. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0517545764
• Yagoda, Ben. 1993. Will Rogers: a Biography. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0394585127

External links

All links retrieved May 5, 2023.

• "Home Page", The Official Site of Will Rogers
• "Home Page", Will Rogers Memorial Museum & Birthplace Ranch
• "Will Rogers State Historic Park" , CA.gov
• "Home Page", Will Rogers World Airport

Preceded by: Conrad Nagel 5th Academy Awards

Oscars host 6th Academy Awards

Succeeded by: Irvin S. Cobb 7th Academy Awards

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